Read why Kate chose Waiting For Callback as her nosaferplace Book Club pick here:

I know, I know: I’ve fangirled about this book before. But Waiting for Callback is SO MUCH FUN!

Here are just some of the many reasons you should buy and read this fabulous book:

Elektra

Elektra is the main character. She loves acting, and when she gets signed by an agent her life settles into a pattern of going to auditions and waiting to see if she gets a callback (interspersed with school, obviously, since she’s only fifteen). Elektra is a brilliantly relatable hero. She worries about her lack of experience with boys, she eats lots of crisps, has best friend problems and gets embarrassed by her parents. But she’s also funny and caring. And she’s geeky enough to compare the school social to a scene from Pride & Prejudice. A girl after my own heart.

Mum

Makes amazing chocolate cakes, loves running lines with Elektra (“She got so into it, reading every other part with feeling and a wide range of disturbing accents”) and worries the whole time about a wide range of topics: mobile phone use, teenage parties, casting directors, boys, GCSE results... pretty much everything. But she does it all with love. The kind of mum any teenage girl would be lucky to have.

Eulalie

Elektra’s French grandmother. She sweeps Elektra off to Harrods to “make some shopping”, showers her with expensive trinkets and helps (*does) her French homework for her. Eulalie sees nothing wrong with sipping champagne at practically any time of day and has any number of hilarious and completely inappropriate anecdotes involving her hanging out in stunning locations with impossibly handsome men. Goals.

Moss

Elektra’s best friend. Despite a bit of boy-related trouble along the way, Moss is always there: cheerleading, defending Elektra from the evil and manipulative Flissy, giving the best fashion advice. AND she likes cake.

Archie

“Archie was fit. The sort of fit that is universally acknowledged…Of course I hadn’t talked to him.” A fellow acting student, Archie starts the book as Elektra’s unobtainable crush. We follow their relationship through text messages and gradually expanding social interactions, as vital questions (what exactly is signified by ending a text message with two kisses instead of one?) are explored.

I could go on. All the characters are sharply and memorably drawn, from super-bitch Flissy who wears smoky eyeliner to school, to Elektra’s architect father, who wears black jumpers and aligns everything on his desk into perfect angles. And Elektra’s potential journey (I’m not going to include any spoilers here!) from after school acting club to the dizzy heights of proto-film-stardom is endearingly and amusingly told. Waiting for Callback is a real laugh-out-loud, feel-good book that I recommend to all ages.

(By the way, there’s also a sequel – Waiting for Callback: Take Two – which is also hilarious. Just saying.)